SIRACUSA....the prodigious city!

 
It was so wonderful to lie at anchor at any time of the day and feel the wonder of Siracusa.  Described by Cicero as "the most splendid of Greek cities, Siracusa later became part of the Roman empire and after the earthquake of 1693, the Spaniards rebuilt much of Ortigia, the old town, with beautiful Baroque buildings.

Grand Harbour is unique, a wonderful sheltered natural harbour for sailors to be able to safely anchor and dinghy to shore to explore the old city, stock up with gastronomic delights from the market and replenish wine from barrels in the new town.

We made a point of finding Caravaggio's "Burial of St Lucy" in the small church on the Piazza Duomo, which we'd missed when we were there in September last year. 

The Russian owned super yacht, "Ace" was berthed on the quay and their shadow boat, "Garcon", with all the toys and a crew of 28, was right next door!

We weighed anchor on Friday 10th May after four glorious nights, said farewell to all our friends from Marina di Ragusa who were all waiting for the right winds to go their separate ways, and set off for Taormina, Mt Etna and the Straits of Messina